


thomas jefferson: a brief summary

by janteu



Category: 1776 (1972), American Revolution RPF, Historical RPF
Genre: Multi, closet gay history, don't ask why I wrote this I really can't answer you lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-29
Updated: 2017-01-29
Packaged: 2018-09-20 13:54:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9494393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/janteu/pseuds/janteu
Summary: Before he knows it, Thomas Jefferson is 41 and in love (both in Paris and with Paris, and probably also John Adams).





	

**Author's Note:**

> historical accuracy? not really. ridiculous amounts of founding father gayness? absolutely.

Thomas Jefferson is 15 when he notices sweat trickling along the neck of the black boy he has known since birth, unable to tear his gaze away from the dark, sinewy expanse of skin that smells like something foreign and intoxicating.

By the crack of dawn, the barn is thick with it, and Jefferson runs his hands along the planes of the sleeping black boy’s chest, swallows, looks away.

He gathers his breeches, sneaking from the barn back through his bedroom window, and vows to never again think of it.

Thomas Jefferson is 29 when he marries Martha. She is lovely, and Jefferson is entirely unworthy of her. He kisses her, soft and sweet, smiling at her swelling belly with hope and joy. Both of his Janes die as the revolution begins to swell in his heart, and he grieves unlike he ever has before. His mother, his daughter. He is lost, and then -

Thomas Jefferson is 33 when he meets John Adams. Befriending the man is, quite possibly, the best and worst decision of his life. Adams is persistent, infuriating, but most of all, kind and intelligent in a way that Jefferson could have never anticipated.

They are sitting in the parlor of Jefferson’s apartment, Jefferson sipping tea and watching amusedly as Adams blathers on about Rutledge and _those_   _infernal southerners,_ when Jefferson realizes -

He is utterly  _besotted_.

“ _Y_ _ou ought not make a show of your mirth, my dear sir,”_ says John, the beginnings of a smile slipping onto his face as Jefferson hides his in his tea.

The ink from the pen smears everywhere, on fingers and thighs and cheekbones and everywhere that isn’t the paper. 

“ _T_ _he Declaration can wait,”_ he breathes against John’s skin.

Thomas Jefferson is 39 when his heart is broken for the first time. He spends hours, days wandering around the fields of Monticello, cold mud seeping through his black trousers. The sun is setting behind him as he lays a single  _Chrysopsis mariana_ flower upon Martha's grave.

John visits him the summer after his 40th birthday, his smile shining golden-pink in the hot Virginia air, with promises, lubrication, and an offer. Monticello feels lively again for a few weeks, and the air hangs with promises for months following.

Before he knows it, Thomas Jefferson is 41 and in love (both in Paris and with Paris, and probably also John Adams).

Thomas Jefferson is 48 and angry, then 54 and simply frustrated. With his presidency comes hard decisions and even harder truths. He longs for his pen and his violin, and most of all, his correspondence with John Adams. 

Summer afternoons in his office become hot and tedious as his Embargo Act rears its head. He feels war creeping upon him and the country he has birthed, forged into existence with his pen and his compassion.

Jefferson realizes, for the first time, that this is responsibility. 

He writes a letter to Adams that he will never send; watches as his presidency comes to a close. He feels rather relieved.

Thomas Jefferson is 66 and more tired than he has ever been. He goes home, thinks quite a bit about life and the growth of his herb garden. 

Thomas Jefferson is 68 when Adams writes him again, wishing him a happy new year. He is overcome with something akin to joy as he composes his response, not giddy, but _happy_ , in a simple and wholesome sense of the word.

They begin to write more frequently, and Jefferson begins to settle into his old age, the soft satisfaction of finality washing over him in gentle waves, day by day. 

Thomas Jefferson is 79 when he decides to put tin shingles on the roof. It’s a good decision.

Thomas Jefferson is 83 and in his deathbed. He dies on the 4th of July.

Five hours later, John Adams’ last words are about him.

**Author's Note:**

> ok I'm unhealthily emotionally invested in thomas jefferson there I said it


End file.
